Advice please - 14 weeks and still no car (let down by broker)!

[drykoke]

First post, but have been avidly following this forum since I ordered my Leon FR 5 door 1.8TSI manual (solid white, tech pack, sound system, convenience pack, alcantara). Nothing special from the options at all, standard factory order.

I won't name and shame the broker at the moment, but it wasn't one of the ones frequently recommended on this forum.

Order date: 24 July 2013, £500 deposit put down.
Estimated delivery shown as mid Oct 2013.
No communication at all since, and on 16 October, the broker website then showed Late October 2013 for my order.
So, it is now 31 October with no car in sight, and surprise, surprise the website now shows Early November 2013 for my order.
It is 14 weeks and 1 day since I ordered, and the broker website still gives the outrageous status update that 'Estimated delivery based on lead time'.

I'm really envious of all you lucky people who have got your Leons, especially as some of the orders were made in mid or late August.
Is there anyone still waiting for their car from a July order?
Looks like I may have to call it quits and somehow try and get my deposit back.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[JK1]

Perhaps ring Seat CS and ask them?

I ordered mine back on the 6th July and only picked it up last weekend.

The factory shuts down during August so you end up with a month of nothing happening as well as a backlog of orders to run when they come back.

 

[skidpan]

You should never use a broker who asks for your money. Good brokers introduce you to a dealer who then takes over. The broker gets his fee from the dealer. I bought from a broker, he introduced me to a dealer within 15 minutes of speaking to him, car delivered 4 days later from stock.

Seat CS will unlikely be able to help since you have no contract with Seat, that is with the dealer (or in your case the broker).

Do you have any actual proof that the car has been ordered or has the broker simply invested your deposit on a good holiday.

 

[drykoke]

You should never use a broker who asks for your money. Good brokers introduce you to a dealer who then takes over. The broker gets his fee from the dealer. I bought from a broker, he introduced me to a dealer within 15 minutes of speaking to him, car delivered 4 days later from stock.

Seat CS will unlikely be able to help since you have no contract with Seat, that is with the dealer (or in your case the broker).

Do you have any actual proof that the car has been ordered or has the broker simply invested your deposit on a good holiday.

Bad mistake on my part. No proof that the car has been ordered, I don't even have an order number that I could use to check with Seat CS.
Fortunately I insisted on paying deposit with credit card, so that if it comes to a fight, I will be able to get some money back.

 

[CyberGene]

If you've ordered the sunroof and 18" wheels, then there can be such a delay indeed.
Edit: I've just seen you haven't. Sorry.

 

[fastnfat]

Ordered mine two weeks ago, pick it up today, Solid Red, Tech pack, Covenience pack, interior LED's, Alcantara, Spare wheel, 18" wheels. Ordered from stock.

 

[evilbadger]

If you've ordered the sunroof and 18" wheels, then there can be such a delay indeed.
Edit: I've just seen you haven't. Sorry.

We ordered with both and got hit with those delays - still waiting but hopefully should have it by the end of Nov. The dealer was pretty quick to inform me of the delay though and even sent over a screenshot of the official week 35 Production Update stating the delays.

 

[drykoke]

Gave the broker a final ultimatum, and it might have worked!
Apparently the car is now with the supplying dealer (15 weeks and 2 days) after ordering.
Let's see what turns up in the next week or two.

 

[keensmith]

Think I must hold the record Ordered 1.8Tsi DSG with Tech, Sunroof etc on 19 Feb through broker & finally got car 2 October! 30+ weeks! Not much information all along apart from excuses (My first car supposedly got damaged in transit back in May & had to get rebuilt...?!). All the while, to be fair, I was offered my deposit back, but because of the string of "promises" I decided to stand by, rather than start from scratch. Not good in hindsight, but I felt I had to go along. All in all not a very good experience (I was without a car for 5 months, having sold my old one based on the original delivery estimate). OK, I saved a lot of money, but probably not as much as I thought I had given what I see others have saved from their local dealers. I live in a remote part of Scotland & nearest SEAT dealer is 100 miles away (as is every other franchise!), so buying on line seemed the way forward. From my experiences this time, I'm not so sure I'll do this again, although my previous SEAT was bought this way & I had no problems. I get the feeling these brokers are in the hands of the dealers & if the dealer can sell the car, then the broker takes a back seat. Autoexpress naming the Leon their COTY did for me lol! Anyway, now I have the car & love it to bits! Agree with every positive thing said & can't think of any negatives, apart from the Media player not recognising album artwork for my iPod Classic (I even tried the red cable & it didn't recognise the iPOd at all!). Not a big issue though, although my old Mini had no problems in this department.
Excellent forum btw!

 

[dw911]

Gave the broker a final ultimatum, and it might have worked!
Apparently the car is now with the supplying dealer (15 weeks and 2 days) after ordering.
Let's see what turns up in the next week or two.

I take it you have confirmed with the supplying dealer that your car is there with them ?

 

[drykoke]

I take it you have confirmed with the supplying dealer that your car is there with them ?

Good point. I will check this on Monday, thanks.

 

[andycupra]

post #2 mirrors your lead time...

hope you get it soon and there are no issues so you can enjoy.

 

[FRTSIman]

Think I must hold the record Ordered 1.8Tsi DSG with Tech, Sunroof etc on 19 Feb through broker & finally got car 2 October! 30+ weeks! Not much information all along apart from excuses (My first car supposedly got damaged in transit back in May & had to get rebuilt...?!). All the while, to be fair, I was offered my deposit back, but because of the string of "promises" I decided to stand by, rather than start from scratch. Not good in hindsight, but I felt I had to go along. All in all not a very good experience (I was without a car for 5 months, having sold my old one based on the original delivery estimate). OK, I saved a lot of money, but probably not as much as I thought I had given what I see others have saved from their local dealers. I live in a remote part of Scotland & nearest SEAT dealer is 100 miles away (as is every other franchise!), so buying on line seemed the way forward. From my experiences this time, I'm not so sure I'll do this again, although my previous SEAT was bought this way & I had no problems. I get the feeling these brokers are in the hands of the dealers & if the dealer can sell the car, then the broker takes a back seat. Autoexpress naming the Leon their COTY did for me lol! Anyway, now I have the car & love it to bits! Agree with every positive thing said & can't think of any negatives, apart from the Media player not recognising album artwork for my iPod Classic (I even tried the red cable & it didn't recognise the iPOd at all!). Not a big issue though, although my old Mini had no problems in this department.
Excellent forum btw!

You could do what I did and transfer your iPod Classic music files to a USB memory stick or SD memory card (first formatted on your computer as FAT32) and as long as the album artwork is saved as part of the MP3 file ID Tag in jpg picture format (not bmp or png) and no larger than 500 pixels wide x 500 pixels high, I found that all my album artwork is displayed correctly!

 

[skidpan]

OK, I saved a lot of money, but probably not as much as I thought I had given what I see others have saved from their local dealers. I live in a remote part of Scotland & nearest SEAT dealer is 100 miles away (as is every other franchise!), so buying on line seemed the way forward. From my experiences this time, I'm not so sure I'll do this again, although my previous SEAT was bought this way & I had no problems.

The broker I used was absolutely brilliant. E-mailed details on Saturday PM, auto reply requested I phone the given number if I wished to proceed further. Phoned Monday at about 09.30, took some more details and the dealer rang me about 10.00. Dealer took details of my PX and rang me back at about 10.30, made me an offer and said they had exactly the car I wanted in stock. Paid deposit by Visa, collected car on the Friday sorting the PCP paperwork, extended warranty and service deal out while I was there.

Unfortunately the dealer had cocked up some of the details on the paperwork but you cannot blame the broker for that. Seat CS sorted it but it took about 3 months.

But I saved about £1800 over the cost to change at the best local dealer, well worth using the broker, would do it again but hopefully they would connect me with a different dealer.

 

[Andy]

You should never use a broker who asks for your money.

I dont agree with that one Skidpan, you need to take each deal on its merit.

I've just been down that road and you need to focus on the cost 'to change', whether the broker/agent charges a fee or not is irrelevant.



Just been reading your thread on HJ 'First 10 Weeks', Brum seems a right cheery fella



@drykoke

Hope things pan out okay for you bud.

 

[skidpan]

I dont agree with that one Skidpan, you need to take each deal on its merit.

I've just been down that road and you need to focus on the cost 'to change', whether the broker/agent charges a fee or not is irrelevant.

Of course price to swap is the most important figure but there is danger in giving the broker money plus the broker should get their fee from the dealer.

So you give the broker money just prior to delivery and then get your car. If the broker goes bust before handing over your cash or simply does not give the dealer the money the dealer will want the car back. If you pay by credit card you should eventually get your money back but you could be without a car and a substantial sum of money for several months.

Its simply risk free if you only give money to the dealer plus if you know who they are from day one you can keep chasing them for a delivery date plus you can always complain to the manufacturer if they keep putting the delivery date back. Try that when you don't know the dealers name.

 

[Andy]

Of course price to swap is the most important figure but there is danger in giving the broker money plus the broker should get their fee from the dealer.

So you give the broker money just prior to delivery and then get your car. If the broker goes bust before handing over your cash or simply does not give the dealer the money the dealer will want the car back. If you pay by credit card you should eventually get your money back but you could be without a car and a substantial sum of money for several months.

Its simply risk free if you only give money to the dealer plus if you know who they are from day one you can keep chasing them for a delivery date plus you can always complain to the manufacturer if they keep putting the delivery date back. Try that when you don't know the dealers name.

Doesn't matter how many scenarios you paint that statement "You should never use a broker who asks for your money" mis-informs, it might be your own personal preference but that's another thing.

My next one will be car seven, on two occasions I've paid a broker, had I not used a broker my car on both occasions would have cost several hundred pounds MORE. So had I applied your words of wisdom in both cases I'd be well out of pocket, which flies in the face of what its all about, saving you money.

Paying by CC is not an 'If' like you mention, for deposits or broker payments its a must, that takes care of any worries, you'll lose nothing apart from time. Couple that with common sense and a bit of research and your as safe as you get.

Try that when you don't know the dealers name.

Without exception I've always known the dealer. I dismissed the cheapest quote I had for the Leon for that very reason. That's where the common sense comes in, you cant buy that.

 

[drykoke]

@drykoke

Hope things pan out okay for you bud.

The car finally turned up last week, 17 weeks after order was placed. It had been sitting around for about 3 weeks somewhere in the UK before the broker made the effort to look for it!
I usually prefer to buy a used car, something about 1-2 years old that I can pick up right away but obviously nothing suitable on the Leon Mk 3 front!

 

[Andy]

That's great news, how you liking it, was the stress he put you through worth it in the end?

Who did you order through if you dont mind me asking, you can PM. I'm just curious as I think I could answer it myself.
*edit Ignore the above, just read on your initial post you didn't want to name them, np


I dont have a build week for mine yet, so I'll just have to keep drooling over everyone else's.

Right, more to the point, where's your pics

 

[drykoke]

That's great news, how you liking it, was the stress he put you through worth it in the end?

Who did you order through if you dont mind me asking, you can PM. I'm just curious as I think I could answer it myself.
*edit Ignore the above, just read on your initial post you didn't want to name them, np


I dont have a build week for mine yet, so I'll just have to keep drooling over everyone else's.

Right, more to the point, where's your pics

Still getting used to the Leon, so many configuration options in that touchscreen menu! Would love to give that 1.8 engine a real good thrashing but holding back until it gets a couple of thousand miles under its belt.
I got it from buyacar.co.uk, I don't mind naming them now that the car has been successfully delivered.
Pics - not for a while yet, as the winter grime is creating havoc with the white paint!